A Claude skill that runs your monthly review and sets next month's goals
It steps back from your tasks to your long-term goal, shows where you're drifting and turns that into one clear goal for next month. A free monthly reflection, with simple onboarding if you don't have goals written down yet.
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Monthly review/monthly-retro
Before I show you anything: what kind of month was that?
Busy, but it felt flat
Using the monthly-retro skill
Notion 4 weekly retros, 3 bets landed
Stripe £58,400 banked, up 12%
Xero £9,200 overdue, up from £3,100
Google Calendar 61% of hours in delivery
Granola 14 calls, 3 new prospectsYou called it flat, but revenue is up 12%. The gap is ahead of you: only 3 new prospects all month, so next quarter's pipeline is thin.
What's the quiet worry you'd rather not say?
Next quarter could be empty
£80k of new pipeline by the 30th
If-then: if it's Friday at noon and under 5 new conversations have started, I call 3 past clients.
Who'll notice: Sam, told today.
Doesn't count: website changes or replies to warm leads. I'll score all this next month.
Every monthly review starts from your long-term goal and ends with next month's goals
Once a month the skill reads three things, runs four steps and hands you three. Next month it scores whether the plan you made actually worked.
What it reads
- Your long-term goalAn outcome, a measure and a date. If it can't find them, it helps you set them.
- This month's evidenceYour weekly reviews and last month's goals, if you keep them.
- Anything you connectOptional: your calendar, task list or wherever your number lives.
What it does every month
- Ask before any numbersWhat kind of month was that? The gap between your answer and the data is the insight.
- Report and write a letterThe month's facts on one screen, then an honest letter about what they mean.
- Ask you to reflectWhat you are proud of, the quiet worry, and what you got better at.
- Check for driftIs your plan still the fastest path to the goal, or has the month re-aimed you?
What you get
- The month's reviewSaved where you keep your work: a folder, a Notion page, a Google Doc.
- Next month's goalsOne primary goal and up to two supporting ones. Never tasks.
- A trigger and a humanAn if-then that can be scored next month, and someone told who will notice.
Any role can run this monthly review: only the goal changes
- Founder
- Profitable by year end
- Salesperson
- Hit the annual quota
- Marketer
- Double qualified leads
- Engineer
- Promoted to staff
- Manager
- A team that runs without me
- Recruiter
- Fill the 20 open roles
- Consultant
- A full book of retainers
- Writer
- Finish the book
Can't name your goal yet? It helps you draft one and makes settling it part of next month's plan.
The monthly reflection questions it asks before any planning
- What are you proud of, in your own words?
- What's the quiet worry you'd rather not say?
- What did you get better at this month?
- What did this month teach you that should change how you work?
Then it adds two more, changed each month so the answers don't go on autopilot, such as “Which decision would you take back?” and “What did you say yes to that you'd now refuse?” Where your feeling and the numbers disagree, it says so. A worry the numbers support becomes a goal, rather than being reassured away.
The monthly review template it fills in for you
You talk, it writes. Your answers are kept verbatim, and the goals are written down exactly as agreed, because next month's review scores them.
It works as a monthly planning template too. Each month ends with a plan for the next, set for the weeks you actually have, after leave and heavy delivery.
Example review: a founder
The monthly review skill installs in Claude, Claude Code, Codex or ChatGPT in two minutes
- Claude
In claude.ai or the desktop app, go to Customize, then Skills, click +, choose Upload a skill and upload monthly-retro.zip as it is. It then appears in Claude Code too, on the same account.
Claude CodeUnzip it into ~/.claude/skills/, so the file ends up at ~/.claude/skills/monthly-retro/SKILL.md.
CodexUnzip it into ~/.agents/skills/, then start a new session.
ChatGPT for WorkGo to Skills, then Create, then Upload from your computer, and upload the zip. Business, Enterprise, Healthcare and Edu only, and your admin has to allow uploads.
Then type /monthly-retro in the first week of the month and allow about an hour.
Get the monthly review skill free
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Instant download of this one skill. No spam.
Questions people ask before installing the monthly review skill
What if I don't have clear goals yet?
It looks first, in your retro home and anywhere else it can reach. If it can't find an outcome, a measure and a date, it runs a short onboarding: where to keep your reviews, who reads them, what you want to be true by the end of the year and how you will know. If you still can't name a goal, it helps you draft one, marks it as a draft and makes settling it part of next month's goal.
What's the difference between a monthly review and a weekly review?
A weekly review checks the week against your plan. A monthly review checks the plan against your goal. Tasks are banned here: anything you bring up gets parked, so the session stays on whether your objectives are moving and whether the plan still makes sense.
How long does a monthly review take?
Plan on about an hour. The skill doesn't offer a short version, because a rushed review reproduces the problem it exists to solve. If you are short of time, it offers to reschedule. The first run adds a few minutes of onboarding if it needs to find your goals.
How does it set monthly goals that actually happen?
It sets one primary goal and up to two supporting ones. Each gets an if-then trigger based on a clock, a state or a count rather than a feeling, a person who has been told and will notice, the cost of missing it and two things that wouldn't count. Then it asks you to imagine the month has already failed, and uses the likeliest reason to strengthen the plan.
Is this a monthly reset or a life audit?
A monthly reset usually means clearing your space and lists, and a life audit is usually a one-off look at your whole life. This is a working review you repeat each month, tied to one goal, and each month it scores whether last month's plan worked. It is closer to a monthly check-in with someone who remembers what you said.
Do I need to connect my tools?
No. It works from your answers and whatever you paste in. Connect your calendar, task list or wherever your key number lives and the report uses real figures. It never estimates a missing number: it marks that line as open instead.
Where does it keep my reviews, and is my data private?
Wherever you choose: a local folder, a single file, a Notion page or a Google Doc. It asks whether absolute figures such as balances may be saved there. If the place is shared, it defaults to percentages and gaps to target. If someone else reads your review, it keeps a private version and a shared one, and reads the shared one back before saving it.
How do I run it every month?
Type /monthly-retro in the first week of the month. It is built for a live conversation, so a scheduled run is better used as a reminder to sit down with it than as a replacement for the session.
Pair it with the weekly retro skill: keep both in the same place, and each weekly review can check against this month's primary goal. The daily planner skill brings that goal into each morning.